Two Verde Valley attractions have made it into the top ten finalists for the title of “Best Small-Town Museum” in the annual USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards. The Sedona Heritage Museum in Uptown is in the top three finalists and the Douglas Mansion in Jerome State Historic Park is also in the running.
Sedona Heritage Museum Executive Director Nate Meyers’ pitch to voters echoed the lyrics to “You’re the Best,” by Joe Esposito, the theme song to the 1984 movie “The Karate Kid,” which was partially filmed in Sedona.
“Because we’re the best,” Meyers said. “We’re excited about just being nominated. It’s a cool thing. The writers from USA Today went across the country and put together these nominations, so I was a little surprised to hear from them last month. It’s an exciting thing to know that we’re recognized for the work we’re doing to preserve the community’s history. And it’s nice to see the response we’ve gotten already on social media from folks.”
Meyers added that it would be an honor to share a bit of the spotlight with the Douglas Mansion. “It’s amazing that out of all of the country, two museums of the Verde Valley made the list,” he said.
“We [have] a deep and rich history,” Jerome State Historic Park manager Marc Mazzella said, explaining why people should vote for the park. “[We’re] a small mining town set on the side of a mountain here, to show people that wherever money is to be made, there’s no limit to where people will build a town.”
The mansion was built by James S. Douglas in 1916 above his Little Daisy Mine. While Mazzella said it’s a small museum compared to the Louvre, it is also packed with the history of Jerome between the years of 1876 and 1953, when the town supposedly became a ghost town, along with a geology room.
Voting is open online at 10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-small-town-museum-2024 until Monday, Feb. 12, at noon eastern time, and the winners will be announced on Friday, Feb. 23.